Phytoecia geniculata Mulsant
Common name: Carrot borer.
Taxonomic placing: Insects, Holometabola, Coleoptera, Cerambycidae.
Geographical distribution: Middle East, Southern Europe, Iran and Iraq.
Host plants: Carrot (Daucus carota L. and other Asteraceae).
Morphology: Adult body very narrow, about 8-12 mm long, basically black but appearing greyish due to covering dense pale pubescence, antennae as long as body. Legs mostly greyish with one yelow anterior segment.
Life history: This insect is univoltine and usually infests plants growing in sandy soils. The adults become active in spring and oviposit at the plants’ taproots. The hatching larvae enter the roots, feed and may eventually kill young or weakened plants. By late summer the larva constructs a chamber within which it pupates, remaining inactive till the following spring.
Economic importance: Well-developed carrots are usually not damaged, but small or weakened plants grow slowly and may die.
References
Halperin, J. and Holzchuh, C. 1993. Host-plants of Israeli Cerambycidae (Coleoptera), with new records. Phytoparasitica 21: 23.
Sama, G., Rapuzzi. P. and Kairouz A. 2010. Catalogue commenté des Cerambycidae du Liban. An annotated catalogue of the Cerambycidae of Lebanon (Insecta Coleoptera Cerambycidae). Quaderni di Studi e Notizie di Storia Naturale della Romagna 30: 131-201.
Sama, G., Katbeh Bader, D. and Miloud Madi, D. 2002. A preliminary catalogue of the Cerambycidae of Jordan. Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France 107: 471-487.
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